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Book ■ 3 









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AID FOR KANZAS. 


The most important question ever presented to the American 
people since the formation of the Federal Constitution, is now 
pending, and must soon be decided, It is the question whether 
slavery shall be permanently established in Kanzas. 

That question was supposed to be settled “ forever,” thirty-six 
years ago, by the act of Congress for the admission of Missouri. 
The prohibition of slavery forever, West and North of Missouri 
in all the remaining territories of the Louisiana purchase, was 
included in that act, and was universally known to be the consid¬ 
eration without which Missouri as a slave-holding State could not 
be admitted into the Uniou. The question was settled, if an act 
which all parties at that time, and for more than thirty years 
afterward, recognized as an inviolable “compromise,” could settle 
it. It was settled, if a pledge of the public faith could settle it. 
Nobody thought of disturbing that arrangement, till less than 
three years ago. Then, without any pretense of necessity, with¬ 
out any call for such a measure, from the North or from the South, 
that pledge of the public faith—that compact which had stood 
unquestioned for a whole generation—was violated and abolished 
by unprecedented treachery on the part of public servants. 

In the place of a settled and time-hallowed prohibition of sla¬ 
very, there was set up the pretense of a promise that the immi¬ 
grants into the territory should have the power of determining 
the question for themselves. Confiding in that promise, citizens 
from all parts of the Union began to migrate into the territory as 
soon as it was opened for settlement. They began to occupy the 
soil, to build their temporary habitations, to lay out their town 
plots, to plough and plant the prairies, in the hope that the gov¬ 
ernment which had just violated one sacred promise made so long 
ago, would keep another promise more faithfully. But they have 
been basely defrauded. The right of self-government, pledged 
to them by the act of Congress organizing the territorial govern¬ 
ment, has been violently wrested from them. A legislature, and 
other officers executive and judicial, have been imposed upon 
them by armed invaders. Laws establishing slavery, and other 
laws oppressive, cruel, and barbarous, have been decreed for them 
by that intrusive legislature. Fire and sword have been employ¬ 
ed against them. The freedom of the press, the right of the 
citizen to bear arms, and the right of the people peaceably 


4 



2 


to assemble—rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution 
of the Union—have been violated. Bands of lawless men from 
distant States have been, for months past, roaming through the 
territory, committing robbery and murder at their pleasure, ar¬ 
resting travelers on the highways and detaining and plundering 
them without warrant, violating the homes of free-state settlers, 
and even perpetrating upon helpless women the last indignity 
that woman can suffer. Such is the progress, such the present 
posture of the conflict by which—in the wisdom of those who 
now control our federal government—the question is to be decided 
whether Kanzas shall become a garden under the strong and will¬ 
ing hands of freemen, or shall wither and be blighted under the 
reluctant toil of slaves. 

It will not be safe to rely exclusively on the result of the pend¬ 
ing election. There is indeed reason to hope that the patriotism 
of the American people will so declare itself in the choice of a 
President, and in the choice of Senators and Representatives in 
Congress, as to rebuke effectually the authors and accomplices of 
the scheme for the extension of slavery. But at the best, it will 
be long before what has been done under the forms of national 
legislation, can be undone ; and meanwhile the destiny of Kanzas 
may be decided by other influences. If the invaders can succeed 
in driving from the territory the free-state settlers, who (it is be¬ 
lieved) are even yet a large majority of the actual and permanent 
inhabitants—if they can succeed in shutting out the immigrants, 
Northern and Southern, who are willing to make their homes 
upon that soil in the hope of seeing the law of freedom established 
there—if when the government surveys shall have been comple¬ 
ted and the lands shall be offered for sale, (an event not likely to 
be postponed beyond the term of the present administration,) the 
free-state settlers, exhausted and impoverished, shall be unable to 
pay for the lands which they have pre-occupied—the victory of 
the conspirators will be almost infallibly complete. In that case 
slavery will have become an institution in Kanzas ; and the diffi¬ 
culty of carrying through Congress any measure to secure the 
abolition of what is already established, will be far greater than 
the difficulty of carrying through Congress any measures that 
may be necessary to protect and aid the inhabitants of the terri¬ 
tory in the establishment of free institutions. 

It is evident then that unless the friends of Free Kanzas are 
ready to abandon the cause, and to yield the victory to the con¬ 
spirators against freedom, much must be done within the next 
eighth months, not by political action merely, nor by influence at 
the seat of government, but by material aid. 

1. The free-state settlers now in Kanzas must have the assis¬ 
tance which will enable them to remain. Winter is at hand, and 
it will find them far less prepared for its severity than they would 


3 


have been, had not their industry been interrupted by war. The 
invasion which they have recently suffered from Missouri and 
from Alabama and Georgia, did not exhaust its ingenious cruelty 
in killing their cattle, consuming their provisions, stealing their 
horses and wagons, and pillaging their habitations. It came upon 
them just at the time of planting. It compelled them to leave 
the plough standing in the furrow, and on many a settler’s 
“ claim,” the work which must be done just then or not at all, 
was left undone. It was as if the invasion had come at harvest 
time, and burned their standing corn in the fields. Nor was that 
all. Through the summer, thus far, there have been repeated 
alarms, and all industry has been subject to frequent interruption 
and loss. In many instances, the house that was to shelter a set¬ 
tler’s family from the winter’s storms, remains unbuilt because of 
the cruel wickedness of that invasion. Those pioneers of liberty 
must not be abandoned. They must not be left to the dire neces¬ 
sity of retreating from their post of honor in this conflict between 
true civilization and the relentless barbarism of slavery. If they 
need food—if they need shelter—if they need anything else for 
their comfortable subsistence through the winter, and for their 
encouragement in the struggle they are so manfully sustaining— 
the liberality, the patriotism, the fraternal feeling—not the mere 
charity—of their fellow citizens elsewhere, must come to their 
aid. 

2 . At the same time, there are free-state settlers now absent 
from Kanzas, who have “claims” there, and are desirous to return. 
They have come to their former homes—some of them to remove 
their families to the territory—some, because they were driven 
away—some for other reasons. Wherever a free-state Kanzas 
settler can be found who is willing to return, and who needs any 
assistance in order to convey himself or his family to his new 
home, that assistance should be promptly rendered. 

3. There are many hardy, brave and liberty-loving men, espe¬ 
cially in the free States nearest to Kanzas, who are willing, if aid¬ 
ed and encouraged, to migrate into that territory and to establish 
their homes there. Every such settler, acquiring an interest in 
the soil, is an accession of strength to the cause of freedom. But 
the same invasion which has impoverished the settlers already in 
the territory, and has given them a reasonable claim on the friend¬ 
ly and patriotic sympathies of their countrymen, repels those pio¬ 
neers who would otherwise crowd spontaneously into a field so 
inviting. The attractions of the territory in its soil and climate, 
are counteracted by the increased expenses of travel during the 
blockade of the Missouri river, and by the increased cost of sub¬ 
sistence consequent upon the invasion, and resulting from the in¬ 
terruption of productive industry. 

To every reader of these pages, the question is proposed, will 


4 


you do anything towards making Kanzas a free State ‘i Hew 
much are you willing to contribute? The specific object fi r 
which contributions are required, is not the organization of a 
military force to resist the officers and laws of the United States, 
or even to resist the pretended laws and officers of the intrusive 
territorial legislature, though no honest man can deny the right 
of every settler and of every emigrant to have arms and to use 
them in defence of himself and his family against ruffians. The 
specific object is simply aid to the free State settlers in Kanzas, _ 
and to those who are willing to remove thither, as settlers, for 
the sake of making Kanzas free—aid in feeding and clothing 
themselves and their families, aid in obtaining shelter against the 
coming winter, aid in breaking up the ground and preparing for 
a future harvest. With such aid, if only the administration of 
the general government and of the officers which it appoints 
shall be a little more tempered with justice toward the free State 
settlers,—Kanzas will yet become a State without a slave. Its 
immense resources will be developed by the industry, the enter¬ 
prise, the economy, and the intelligence which are the accompa¬ 
niments of freedom and which do not accompany slavery. Let 
Kanzas become a free State, and a few years hence, the augmen¬ 
tation thence accruing to the commerce and the wealth of the 
whole country, North and South, will repay a thousand fold all 
that is now called for. 

The late Kanzas Convention at Buffalo, after careful inquiry 
and deliberation, appointed a National Kanzas Committee con¬ 
sisting of members from each of the free States, and having its 
center at Chicago. Through the efforts of that Committee, as¬ 
sociations have already been formed in several of the States for 
the purpose of assisting them in the object of their appointment. 

A like association has just been formed in this City as a begin¬ 
ning in this State, of which all the friends of free Kanzas are in¬ 
vited to become members, the purpose being to co-operate 
through the agency of the National Committee for the specific 
object described in this paper. Let this come as an earnest ap¬ 
peal to your sympathies and liberality. 

ELI W. BLAKE, President . 

The city will be canvassed for contributions. 

New Haven , August, 1856. 












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